


i hope we make it to the other side

by MagicaLyss



Series: Bluer Than The Sky (Whumptober 2019) [28]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Needs a Hug, Morgan Stark-centric (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Teen Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:21:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22080994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicaLyss/pseuds/MagicaLyss
Summary: Whumptober Day Thirty-One. Embrace“Dad?” she says, fear running her blood cold.“They made me choose,” he repeats, shaking his head. “You were so young and I couldn’t- I couldn’t let them take you, and I-”It’s obvious how the story ends, she doesn’t want to hear it anymore. She wants a different story. She’s here and her brother isn’t. They made Tony choose.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Bluer Than The Sky (Whumptober 2019) [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1502675
Comments: 27
Kudos: 290





	i hope we make it to the other side

It was a Bad Day.  
  


Morgan knew her dad enough to understand what a Bad Day looked like the moment she saw him.  
  


Dark circles under bloodshot eyes, slow uncoordinated movements, a blank expression.  
  


“Hey, Dad,” she murmurs, making herself known. She gently takes the mug from his hands and settles it down on the counter. It’s a Bad Day because he’s chosen his mug that has _World’s Best Dad_ written on it, the Dad crossed out and replaced with Boss.  
  


Her Dad looks at her, pain flickering across his expression, but it’s gone just as fast as it appeared. “Hi, honey.”  
  


“I’ll make you some coffee, go wait on the couch, yeah?” she says, already moving to the machine, but her dad catches her, pulling her into a hug.  
  


She sinks into his chest, taking a deep breath. Bad Days are normally few and far between, but they’re always hard on her. She hates seeing her dad like that without knowing what caused it.  
  


The Thing is a secret. Her parents know about it, Aunt May, Uncle Rhodey, Uncle Happy. Everybody knows about The Thing except for her.  
  


“I love you, you know that?” he says, pressing a kiss to her temple.  
  


“I know. I love you too,” she breathes, trying to get ahold of her overwhelming curiosity. She won’t ask because they won’t tell, she used to try, but all it did was cause more pain.  
  


Her mom walks into the room, already dressed for her day out in the city for business. Her face falls though when she sees them.  
  


She gently lifts Tony’s face who lets Morgan go, turning to Pepper with an expression a little past broken.  
  


“Bad Day?” she asks, though she already knows. “Do you want me to stay home? I can cancel my meetings…”  
  


“I can handle it,” Morgan speaks up. She wants to ask what caused this Bad Day, there had to have been a cause, right? But she didn’t know what the importance of August 10th would be. And she won’t ask. She can’t.  
  


Her mom looks over at her, pride shining in her eyes as she smiles. “You sure, honey?”  
  


Morgan nods certainly. She’s _sixteen_ , she can take care of a Bad Day by now. She’s seen more Bad Days than she can count for as long as she can remember.  
  


Eventually, her mom doesn’t have the choice but to head out, and she says she’ll be home late, wanting to stop by and visit Aunt May, Uncle Happy, and their kid.  
  


Leaving Morgan and Tony in the cabin by themselves.  
  


“You want that coffee now, Dad?” she asks, trying to smile happily up at him. She’s still shorter than him, but she’s got her hope on her mom’s tall genes. “And breakfast?”  
  


He nods and offers a weary, half-smile in return, heading to the couch to sit down.  
  


She makes him his coffee, the way he likes it best, along with some fruit, hoping he’ll stomach some food. Normally on Bad Days, he won’t eat at all, but she’s still got hope. She can’t let her mom down, after all.  
  


“Thank you,” he murmurs, leaving the fruit on the coffee table and sipping from his old mug. It’s chipped and getting worse for wear, but he nearly had a heart attack the last time Pepper suggested they get rid of it.  
  


The words tumble from her mouth before she can stop them. “Why is it a Bad Day?”  
  


Her dad looks up at where she’s still standing, and she expects him to break down or to disappear before her very eyes. Instead, he just offers another one of his Bad Day smiles, and pats the spot on the couch next to him.  
  


She sits down, worry filling her up. She already regrets ever asking the question, she doesn’t know if she _wants_ to know the answer.  
  


“It was supposed to be your brother’s twenty-fifth birthday today,” he says, wrapping his arm around Morgan’s shoulders. He says, crinkling his nose to hide his tears.  
  


Morgan freezes, confusion stilling her thoughts. Brother? She didn’t know she had a brother, at all, let alone that she had a brother that… that something happened to.  
  


“What?”  
  


Tony smiles nostalgically, putting his coffee down, and scrubbing his hand over his face. “He was May’s nephew. She took him in when he was little after his parents died… I met him when he was fourteen. But… In every way except blood, he was my kid.”  
  


She does the math quickly, putting years and numbers together with the kind of ease only a Stark could have. “The year of the Accords?”  
  


“He was Spider-Man. I needed a strong player for my team and I found him. But he- he was more than just a kid in a onesie. He was compassionate and intelligent and a hero, a better hero than anybody I’d ever met. He was kind and so fucking selfless.”  
  


“Did he… Did he Go Away?”  
  


Her dad’s smile falls, eyes glazing as he gets lost in the memories. “Yeah… He disappeared with me. He… He cried and he begged me to save him and I couldn’t do anything but hold him until he turned to dust.”  
  


She doesn’t know what to do, how to comfort him, so she puts her hand over his. “But you did save him. You saved everyone.”  
  


Tony nods, closing his eyes.  
  


“So what happened?”  
  


“He stayed here with you and me and Pepper and Aunt May,” Tony continues. “And he was the greatest big brother to you, and then we got kidnapped.”  
  


She flinches, grabbing Tony’s hand. She doesn’t remember that.  
  


Tony’s hand is shaking in her hold. “They made me choose… They- they had a gun and we were all hurt and tired and starving, and they looked at me and they said-”  
  


He cuts himself off with a pained sigh, a tear leaking from his closed eyes.  
  


“Dad?” she says, fear running her blood cold.  
  


“They made me choose,” he repeats, shaking his head. “You were so young and I couldn’t- I couldn’t let them take you, and I-”  
  


It’s obvious how the story ends, she doesn’t want to hear it anymore. She wants a different story. She’s here and her brother isn’t. They made Tony choose.

  
“He was only seventeen, but you were eight, and I- I was holding you and you were crying.” Tony drops his head to rest on top of their intertwined fingers. “And I knew he would never forgive me if I picked him, and he- he _asked_ me to pick you, to keep you safe, he- he- fuck, he just wanted you to be safe.”  
  


She’s shaking her head, but Tony’s eyes are closed and he won’t stop telling the story she doesn’t want to hear anymore, doesn’t want to know.  
  


“And they said they’d kill both of you if I didn’t pick and I- I panicked, and the next thing I knew, you were crying in my arms and Peter was gone, and we heard- we heard a gunshot and I- I-” He sniffles, tears steadily streaming down his face. “And that was it- I just- I lost him and I-”  
  


She pulls her hand back, scared and confused, and she doesn’t want this knowledge anymore. “Dad, I- I don’t-”  
  


He lifts his head, tears staining his flushed face, and hands shaking now that he no longer has something to hold onto.  
  


“No, I’m sorry, kiddo, I shouldn’t have…” he says, still trying to apologize to _her_ despite everything.   
  


The Thing is so much bigger than anything she could’ve imagined and she wishes it was just The Thing, not this grief that’s been settled onto her shoulders.  
  


She had a brother who gave up his life for her.  
  


She doesn’t know what to say to her father grieving a boy she doesn’t remember. She doesn’t know how to fix the Bad Day now that she knows The Thing.  
  


Peter had been seventeen, and she’s only a year younger than that now, she wonders if Tony can see Peter’s face when he looks at her. If he thinks about What Could’ve Been instead of What Is. She knows Tony doesn’t like What Ifs, he likes constancy, but what if this is why?  
  


“Do you regret it?” It’s the only thing that claws at her lungs like a caged animal desperate to escape.  
  


Tony looks up startled and his eyes suddenly bore into her with an intensity he rarely ever has on Bad Days.  
  


“I regret ever letting my kids get in that situation in the first place. I regret not saving both of you. I regret never telling Peter I loved him. But, honey, I don’t regret you.”  
  


There’s no jealousy that tugs at her heart, there’s no anger, no guilt. There’s only grief. It leaves a crater in her heart and sends the world spinning off course.  
  


Tony pulls her into a hug, gently wrapping her in his arms and resting his cheek atop her head, encasing him in warm love.  
  


She hides away in his chest like she imagines she did when she was little and losing her older brother. And she holds on like he could protect her from the sorrow that’s washing over her.  
  


It’s not okay, so they don’t bother saying it. They just hold on to each other like a lifeline.

  
*  
  
  
Her dream flashes past in glimpses of memory.  
  


_A man stood across from them, a maniacal glint in his eyes as he grinned at her. His dark eyes flickered between her and the boy sitting next to her.  
  
_

_A boy, who she_ knows _is Peter. Strong and refused to cry, pushed himself between her and the man across from them. He turned back to look at her, offering almost an exact replica of her dad’s Bad Day Smile.  
  
_

_Her dad, panicked and shaking, grabbed her around the shoulder and pulled her into his chest, keeping her protected from the man. He already had a good grip on Peter, keeping her brother safe.  
  
_

_“You have to choose, Stark,” the man said. “I want you to feel the pain I felt that day in Sokovia all those years ago. I choose between my daughters that day. I only had the time to save one. And now, I want you to feel that pain. Pick which child you’d like to save or I’ll kill them both.”  
  
_

_“Please, Mister Stark,” Peter begged, turning on Tony. “Please, you have to- I promised to keep her safe and I don’t know what better way to do it than this.”  
  
_

_Her dad had been crying, keeping a hand wrapped around Peter’s upper arm as the stranger leaned back against the cell bars and clicked the safety off the gun. Peter had been so quick to jump selflessly to a decision, no fighting, no idea of self-preservation.  
  
_

_“I can’t lose you again!”  
  
_

_Peter had started to cry and their panic had sparked an echo of it in Morgan. “Please, Mister Stark.”  
  
_

_“Time’s up, Stark.”  
  
_

_The gun had turned on Morgan and Tony shouted, “Wait!”  
  
_

_“Time’s up,” the man repeated.  
  
_

_“Mister Stark, please-”  
  
_

_Tony was shaking and crying, and guilt and panic was flooding his expression. “Save her, please. Take him.”  
  
_

_The stranger had grinned and grabbed Peter by the arm, yanking him away from the Starks curled up on the floor of the cell. And there was some desperate part of him, like a child being taken from his parents, that reached for Tony even as he was pulled out of the cell.  
  
_

_“Peter!” Tony shouted, tremblingly stumbling forward. But the cell locks behind them with a click.  
  
_

_Peter disappeared around the corner and the last they saw of him was his crying face, desperately trying to make himself look strong.  
  
_

_Tony pulled Morgan into his arms, letting her cry into his shirt as he cried into her hair. And then,  
  
_

_A gunshot_ -  
  


Morgan gasps, shooting up. Heart pounding, tears blurring her vision, gunshot echoing in her ears.  
  


She shoves the blankets off her legs, stomach twisting and turning as her lungs burned, unable to get a breath in.  
  


Her door opens, light spilling in, along with a woman. May.  
  


“I’m sorry,” she wheezes, tremblingly reaching for her aunt. This is when the guilt hits, washing over her and overpowering the crushing grief. “I’m sorry- I’m sorry.”  
  


May’s at her side, an almost playful smile on her face. “You’re starting to sound just like Peter.”  
  


Through her tears, she squints up at May. “How don’t you hate me? I- Peter, he’s-”  
  


Pulling Morgan into her side, May says, “I knew Peter better than anyone, kiddo, and the moment I saw him holding you, I knew he’d do _anything_ for you. I made my acceptances with him being a hero years before his sacrifice. I knew the kind of person my nephew was and I knew he’d go down selflessly.”  
  


The teenager hides her face against May’s shoulder, struggling for breath, and she curls her fingers into May’s sleeve, hanging on as she tries to resurface.  
  


“I think,” May continues quietly, “He wouldn’t have made it out of there alive whether the choice was you or him. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he’d been saved.”  
  


“I just- I just-” She wants to apologize again, she wants to turn back time and save them from ever being kidnapped in the first place, she wants her brother back.  
  


“Shh.” May’s rubbing soothing circles into her back, gently shushing her. “You have to breathe. Focus on that first.”  
  


Morgan can’t stop thinking about Peter’s cries, practically begging to die, but she does as told, focusing on May’s voice and command.  
  


Eventually, her breathing evens out and her tears more or less dry up.  
  


“Is Dad okay?” she asks. Normally, he’d be the one in here to take care of her.  
  


“He’s alright. I offered to check on you,” May says, gently running her fingers through Morgan’s hair. “It wouldn’t have been good for his Bad Day to try to take care of you as well.”  
  


Morgan sucks in a shuddering breath, trying to think past the overwhelming grief. “Do you miss him?”  
  


“Every day, honey,” May murmurs. “But I see him in you. You’re just like him, you know. A carbon copy, except maybe a little more bossy.”  
  


She laughs half-heartedly. “Got that from Mom.”  
  


May smiles. “I know you feel like somehow it was your fault, but I promise you, Peter loved you more than anyone. You were just a kid, there was nothing you could’ve done.”  
  


“He was a kid too.”  
  


Saddening a little bit and nostalgia shining in her eyes, May nods. “He was but he grew up really fast. Faster than he should’ve had to. I know it’s awful, he shouldn’t have been put in that kind of situation in the first place, but the world is full of bad people, and he’s selfless. Way too selfless for his own good.”  
  


“He saved my life,” Morgan says, looking up at May. “He didn’t even think twice.”  
  


“He loved you. He _loves_ you. He just wanted to keep you safe. No matter what.”

  
*  
  
  
May, Tony, and Morgan stand in the graveyard, hand in hand.  
  


The tombstone reads _Peter Parker 2001-2023_ with a spider emblem underneath it.  
  


Peter watches over them. He knows, one day, in the very far future, he’ll get to see them again. But for now, he’ll watch over Morgan and continue to keep her safe from a distance.  
  


May and Tony hug Morgan between them, and Peter smiles, knowing he made the right choice all those years ago.  
  


He’ll wait for his own hug. For now, he’ll watch his family embrace and grow without him.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Wow officially finished Whumptober (like three months late but I guess I didn't anticipate how busy my life would be oops) anyways thank you so much for all the love and support on all my oneshots!! it's so cool thank you! 
> 
> If y'all wanna hang out or request anything, [My Tumblr](https://lyssismagical.tumblr.com/)


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